Israel Releases Names of 477 Prisoners to Be Freed in Trade

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel on Sunday released the names of the first 477 Palestinian prisoners that it will exchange for a soldier held by the militant faction Hamas, and the list revealed why the country has found the trade so wrenching: a majority of the inmates were convicted of manslaughter, attempted murder or intentionally causing death.

Those being freed include the founders of Hamas’s armed wing and militants who kidnapped and killed Israeli soldiers and civilians. A mastermind of the 2001 bombing of a Jerusalem pizzeria that killed 15 will walk out of prison, as will a woman who used the Internet to lure a lovesick Israeli teenager to a Palestinian city and had him murdered.

Most of the prisoners were serving life sentences, some for being involved in attacks like the 2001 bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub that killed 21 people and a suicide bombing a year later of a Netanya hotel in which 29 died.

The Israeli soldier in the trade, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, was seized by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid more than five years ago and held in Gaza. The exchange of the first batch of prisoners, which includes 27 women, is set for Tuesday. On Sunday, they were bused to central prisons where their health and identities were to be checked. In two months, 550 more prisoners will be released, but their names have not been published.

Photo

A granddaughter of Walid Aqel, 48, a Palestinian prisoner who is to be freed by Israel in an exchange, stood beneath his photograph on Sunday.Credit
Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

A handful of the most important prisoners in Israel’s jails will not be freed, including Marwan Barghouti, a major force behind the second intifada; his relative Abdullah Barghouti, a bomb maker; and Ahmed Saadat, the mastermind of the murder of Rehavam Zeevi, an Israeli government minister.

About 200 of those being freed will not be permitted to return to their homes in the West Bank but will be sent either to Gaza or into exile, many to Qatar and Turkey. A small number will be permitted back after three years.

By law, the government must provide 48 hours between the release of the list and the chance to challenge the pardons. Several Israeli families who lost members to terrorist attacks filed such petitions on Sunday, but few expected such efforts to succeed.

Despite some of the more alarming prospects for the prisoner release, Israelis have pushed the government for years to make an exchange to ensure Sergeant Shalit’s release. At the same time, though, recent polls have shown most also believe that by releasing men and women who have killed they are taking a clear security risk.

Palestinians, preparing for the release, disputed the terms of the debate in Israel. They said that holding prisoners from occupied lands inside Israel violated international law. They said that many were peaceful people who were convicted in Israeli military trials that involved secret evidence and standards of proof that would be unacceptable in many Western countries.

Photo

A mastermind of the bombing of a Jerusalem pizzeria in 2001 that killed 15 people will walk out of prison as part of the agreement.Credit
Getty Images

They also noted that of the 6,000 or so remaining Palestinian prisoners in Israel, hundreds were being held without being charged while others were held under administrative detention for crimes amounting to political activism. And they said Israelis and others minimized the terrible toll on the families of people held for years, not knowing if or when they would be released.

“One of the reasons we want Palestine to be recognized as a state by the United Nations is so that our people being held by Israel will be recognized for what they are: prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention,” a top intelligence official in Ramallah said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak publicly.

The list includes Rawhi Mushtaha and Yehya Sinwar, two founders of Al Majd, a forerunner of Hamas’s military wing. Al Majd killed Palestinian collaborators, cracked down on behavior regarded as immoral and gathered weapons. Both were arrested in early 1988, less than two months after the outbreak of the first Palestinian uprising and the formal creation of Hamas by Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Mr. Mushtaha, 52, was serving four life sentences for murder through an act of terror, military exercises, manslaughter and incitement. His wife, Raeda, wearing a full face niqab veil, confirmed Sunday that her husband was a founder of Al Majd.

Asked if he regretted his actions she said, “No.” Speaking from her Gaza City home, she continued: “Rawhi is with Hamas until we restore all our Islamic holy places and the return of refugees. Our method and path is resistance. We will not lay down weapons, because resistance is a legitimate right for any people fighting for their freedom.”

Photo

Most of the prisoners were serving life sentences, some for attacks like this suicide bombing of a Netanya hotel where 29 died in 2002.Credit
Heidi Levine/Associated Press

Although the outlines of the current deal between Israel and Hamas have been on the table for two years, it was Hamas’s willingness to abandon a handful of top prisoners and accept exile for others that allowed the exchange to go forward. At the same time, Israel yielded on the number permitted back to their homes in the West Bank rather than insisting on exile. And it agreed to let out some Israeli Arabs, something it had previously rejected for fear of increasing links between Hamas and Israeli Arabs.

The deal improved Hamas’s political standing over its rival Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas official, gave a rare interview to Israel’s Army Radio on Sunday and made a point of criticizing the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, for not having brought about such a prisoner release himself.

But not everyone in Gaza was happy. Hamas had publicly stated that all women being held by Israel were being freed; it turned out that eight will not.

In a prisoners’ tent outside the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City, Taysir Shubair, 34, said his family wrongly believed from earlier reports that his 35-year-old brother, Hazem, would be released after serving 19 years of a life sentence. When the list was published, his brother’s name was not on it.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, the family of Mahmoud Damra was awaiting his return. Mr. Damra, a Palestinian general who was in charge of protecting Yasir Arafat and was named chief of a top security force by Mr. Abbas in 2006, was arrested that year by Israel, jailed and convicted of “links to intentionally causing deaths.”

Photo

Other prisoners are being freed in connection with attacks like this one outside a Tel Aviv nightclub in 2001 that killed 21 people.Credit
Barkay Wolfson/Associated Press

His wife, Faizeh, and three sons said he was a peace-loving man, and they showed certificates and gifts he had received from Israeli security officers in the 1990s.

“The Israelis exaggerated what he did,” said his son Awad, 24, a police officer, sitting in the family apartment in Ramallah and holding his infant nephew on his lap.

The Israeli news media said the force that General Damra commanded had carried out terrorist attacks. His wife said he had done no such thing, and she took from a drawer the permit that Israel had granted him to circulate freely around Ramallah. He was seized just outside Ramallah in what his family considered a trap.

Because Mrs. Damra’s brother was killed by Israeli forces in 2000 for what they said was his involvement in attacks on Israelis, she has been barred from visiting her husband during the five years he has been in prison.

“I only saw my husband twice in the past five years, both times in court,” she said. “I haven’t slept since Thursday, when I heard he was being freed.”

Ethan Bronner reported from Ramallah, and Stephen Farrell from Gaza.

A version of this article appears in print on October 17, 2011, on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Israel Names 477 to Go Free in Trade for Hamas-Held Soldier. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe